Lip balm carrier

ABSTRACT

The lip balm carrier is a fabric sleeve that has a pocket integrally attached to the sleeve. The pocket is designed to retain a lip balm container within the pocket and adjacent a user&#39;s hand. The sleeve wraps about the user&#39;s hand and has a thumb aperture through the sleeve that is adapted to receive a user&#39;s thumb when the sleeve is placed on the user&#39;s hand. Opposing ends of the sleeve affix to each other with releasable mating fasteners to secure the sleeve to the user&#39;s hand. A flap is attached adjacent the open end of the pocket and fastens to the pocket to secure the lip balm container within the pocket.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

1. Field of the Invention

The present invention relates to carrying devices, and particularly to a lip balm carrier worn on the hand.

2. Description of the Related Art

Athletes often need quick and easy access to lip balm while they are exercising, especially when their exercise involves colder temperatures. Particularly for skiers and snowboarders, it wastes time to take off gloves and access bags or backpacks to find lip balm containers. In addition, these containers are generally small and are easily lost, misplaced or difficult to find in backpacks.

While some gloves provide pockets to hold small items, e.g., the glove shown in French Patent No. 2,587,882, published Apr. 3, 1987, such gloves are generally more cumbersome, encase the entire hand, and are not particularly adapted to the shape of lip balm containers. The pockets do not always provide the most secure method of retaining an item within the pocket, and are often disposed on the palm of the glove, precluding the use of the hand for grasping objects. Since skiers and snowboarders are more especially inclined to use a particular ski glove, any carrier for lip balm should necessarily function around a standard ski glove.

Accordingly, there is a need for a lip balm carrier that is not overly cumbersome, that may fit around an additional sporting glove, and that provides a secure, convenient method of storing a lip balm container. Thus, a lip balm carrier solving the aforementioned problems is desired.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

The lip balm carrier is designed to allow an individual to carry lip balm containers in a sleeve wrapped about the user's hand. The lip balm carrier is a fabric sleeve of continuous material that retains a lip balm container adjacent the user's hand to provide easy access to the lip balm container. The sleeve wraps about the user's hand and has a thumb aperture through the sleeve that is adapted to receive a user's thumb when the sleeve is placed on the user's hand.

The sleeve has opposing ends that affix to each other by releasable mating fasteners, which may be hook and loop fasteners, snaps, or the like. The sleeve additionally has a first edge and a second edge opposite the first edge, so that when the user wraps the sleeve about the user's hand and secures it, the first edge defines a proximal opening adjacent the wrist and the second edge defines a distal opening for the user's fingers.

The sleeve has a ventral portion adapted for overlying the palm of the hand and a dorsal portion adapted for overlying the back of the hand. A cylindrical pocket is integrally connected to the dorsal portion of the fabric sleeve and is adapted to receive a lip balm container. A flap is attached adjacent the open end of the pocket. A flap fastener is affixed to the underside of the flap and a mating fastener is attached to the pocket itself adjacent the open end of the pocket. The flap can therefore be securely closed over the open end of the pocket to maintain the lip balm container within the pocket.

These and other features of the present invention will become readily apparent upon further review of the following specification and drawings.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 is an environmental, perspective view of a lip balm carrier according to the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a top plan view of the lip balm carrier according to the present invention.

FIG. 3 is a bottom plan view of the lip balm carrier according to the present invention.

Similar reference characters denote corresponding features consistently throughout the attached drawings.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT

The present invention is a lip balm carrier designed to allow an individual to carry lip balm containers in a sleeve wrapped about the user's hand. The lip balm carrier, designated generally as 10 in the drawings, retains a lip balm container adjacent the user's hand to provide easy access to the lip balm container when necessary.

Referring first to FIG. 1, the lip balm carrier 10 is shown wrapped about a user's hand. The lip balm carrier 10 is a fabric sleeve 12 of continuous material. The sleeve 12 fits around a user's hand and has a thumb aperture 20 through the sleeve 12 that is adapted to receive a user's thumb when the sleeve 12 is placed on the user's hand. The lip balm carrier 10 has an exterior surface 14 and an interior surface 16 (seen more clearly in FIG. 3), the interior surface 16 of the sleeve 12 being adjacent to the surface of the user's hand when the lip balm carrier 10 is worn. The exterior surface 14 of the sleeve 12 faces outward when the lip balm carrier 10 is worn.

The sleeve 12 additionally has a first edge 15 and a second edge 17 opposite the first edge 15. When the user wraps the sleeve 12 about the user's hand and secures the sleeve 12, the first edge 15 defines a proximal opening 19 adjacent the wrist. The second edge 17 defines a distal opening 21 through which the user's fingers extend.

A cylindrical pocket 22 is integrally connected to the exterior surface 14 of the fabric sleeve 12. The cylindrical pocket 22 is adapted to receive a cylindrical lip balm container 60. A flap 24 is attached to the pocket 22 and maintains the lip balm container 60 within the pocket 22. As shown in FIG. 1, the pocket 22 is disposed on a dorsal portion of the sleeve 12 adapted to overlay the dorsal surface of the hand.

Turning now to FIGS. 2 and 3, the sleeve 12 has a first end 24 and an opposite second end 26 to which the first end 24 is attached when the sleeve 12 is positioned about the user's hand. The thumb aperture 20 is medially disposed between the first 15 and second 17 edges of the sleeve 12 and defined through the body of the sleeve 12. A first releasable fastener 30 is attached to the first end 24 of the fabric sleeve 12. The first fastener 30 is affixed to the exterior surface 14 of the sleeve 12. The mating second releasable fastener 32 is attached to the second end 26 of the fabric sleeve 12. The second fastener 32 is affixed to the interior surface 16 of the sleeve 12. The first 30 and second 32 fasteners are adapted to mate with each other, holding the sleeve 12 about or around the user's hand.

While the first releasable fastener 30 has been described as being affixed to the exterior surface 14 of the sleeve 12 at the first end 24 and the second releasable fastener 32 has been described as being affixed to the interior surface 16 of the sleeve 12 at the second end 26, it is to be understood that the fasteners 30 and 32 may be attached either on the exterior surface 14 or interior surface 16 at either the first end 24 or second end 26, so long as the fasteners 30 and 32 are able to mate so that the first end 24 and second end 26 of the sleeve 12 are connected when the lip balm carrier 10 is placed around a user's hand. The first 30 and second 32 fasteners may be first and second strips of hook and loop fastening material, male and female snaps, a button and buttonhole, or any type of fastener capable of attaching the first end 24 of the sleeve 12 to the second end 26.

The cylindrical pocket 22 has an open end 40, which allows for access to the pocket 22. The flap 24 is attached adjacent the open end 40 of the pocket 22. A first flap fastener 50 is attached to the underside of the flap 24. A mating second flap fastener 52 is attached to the pocket 22 adjacent the open end 40 of the pocket 22. The first 50 and second 52 flap fasteners may be strips of mating hook and loop fastening material, mating snap fasteners, or any other type of fastener that holds the flap 24 against the pocket 22 so that the lip balm container 60 is held within the pocket 22. The flap 24 can therefore be securely closed over the open end 40 of the pocket 22 to maintain the lip balm container 60 within the pocket 22.

It is to be understood that the present invention is not limited to the embodiment described above, but encompasses any and all embodiments within the scope of the following claims. 

1. A lip balm carrier, comprising: a fabric sleeve of continuous material having a first end and a second end and an exterior and interior surface, the sleeve having a thumb aperture medially disposed between the first and second ends of the sleeve and defined through the fabric sleeve; a first releasable fastener attached to the first end of the fabric sleeve; a mating second releasable fastener attached to the second end of the fabric sleeve, whereby the sleeve is adapted for fastening about a hand and defines a ventral portion adapted for overlying the palm of the hand and a dorsal portion adapted for overlying the back of the hand; and a pocket adapted for receiving a lip balm container, the pocket being attached to the dorsal portion and having an open end.
 2. The lip balm carrier according to claim 1, wherein the first fastener comprises a first strip of hook and loop fastening material and the second mating fastener comprises a mating second strip of hook and loop fastening material.
 3. The lip balm carrier according to claim 1, further comprising a flap attached to said sleeve adjacent to the open end of the pocket, the flap being dimensioned and configured for closing the open end of the pocket when folded over the open end.
 4. The lip balm carrier according to claim 3, further comprising a first flap fastener attached to the flap and a mating second flap fastener attached to the pocket, whereby the flap is releasably fastened to the pocket in order to close the open end of the pocket.
 5. The lip balm carrier according to claim 4, wherein the first flap fastener comprises a first flap strip of hook and loop fastening material and the mating second flap fastener comprises a second flap strip of hook and loop fastening material.
 6. A lip balm carrier, comprising: a fabric sleeve of continuous material having a first end and a second end and an exterior and interior surface, the sleeve having a thumb aperture medially disposed between the first and second ends of the sleeve and defined through the fabric sleeve; means for releasably fastening the first end of the fabric sleeve to the second end of the fabric sleeve, whereby the sleeve is adapted for fastening about a hand and defines a ventral portion adapted for overlying the palm of the hand and a dorsal portion adapted for overlying the back of the hand; and a pocket adapted for receiving a lip balm container, the pocket being disposed on the dorsal portion of the sleeve and having an open end.
 7. The lip balm carrier according to claim 6, wherein said fastening means comprises a first strip of hook and loop fastening material and a mating second strip of hook and loop fastening material.
 8. The lip balm carrier according to claim 6, further comprising a flap attached to said sleeve adjacent to the open end of the pocket, the flap being dimensioned and configured for closing the open end of the pocket when folded over the open end.
 9. The lip balm carrier according to claim 8, further comprising a first flap fastener attached to the flap and a mating second flap fastener attached to the pocket, whereby the flap is releasably fastened to the pocket in order to close the open end of the pocket.
 10. The lip balm carrier according to claim 9, wherein the first flap fastener comprises a first flap strip of hook and loop fastening material and the mating second flap fastener comprises a second flap strip of hook and loop fastening material. 